Rugby: Jane 'controlling the controllables' in fight for ABs slot

Wing Cory Jane is hoping to impress the All Black selectors playing for the NZ Barbarians against the Maori All Blacks tonight. Photo / Greg Bowker

Cory Jane is remarkably sanguine for one who should have the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Lining up tonight for the NZ Barbarians in his first full game since May, the 32-year-old will take to the right wing with a firm mindset of "controlling the controllables".

His dodgy hamstring has come right and he just has to play his game on the end of a sharp looking Barbarians' backline. The rest is up to the All Blacks selectors, though he has plenty of competition.

"It's not the end of the world. The All Blacks selectors know what I can do. I know what I can do. I just need to get myself right. If I go out there thinking everything's going to fall apart, then I'll probably have a shocker. But I know I need to perform as there are a lot of outside backs going well," said Jane.

He first suffered the leg injury against the Blues on May 23, and then made an ill-fated return, at less than full fitness, for the June 13 Chiefs match in New Plymouth. Time is running short, but Jane has proven the critics wrong in the past. He is, by some distance, the most experienced player in this Barbarians side, with 53 test caps and upwards of 200 first-class games. It would take a lot to jettison that experience just because he has yet to fully fire in 2015. The selectors have not forgotten Jane's performance against the Wallabies at RWC 2011, one of the great aerial displays by a wing in a big match.

His playing future is sorted, having signed until 2017 with New Zealand Rugby, and August 3 sees his book, Winging It, in conjunction with Scotty Stevenson, hit the shelves. It sounds like it will be more in the Eric Rush rather than Richie McCaw mould of rugby biographies.

There are several strands to tonight's match which resonate with Jane. This is his first run for the Barbarians, who traditionally play his kind of rugby. He has also played for the opposition, the Maori All Blacks, in his pre-All Blacks days.

"I remember I made my debut for the Maori in 2006. Now I get a chance to play against them, which is pretty cool," said Jane. The comeback timing was not quite right for him to join the Maori squad for their full programme, so he joins the Barbarians. He will mark Matt Proctor, not the young comer Rieko Ioane, who is 14 years his junior.

Jane knows this game is not about him, and coach Scott McLeod emphasises the team-first philosophy of the Barbarians' approach.

"You can look at it as an opportunity for a few people, or an opportunity for everybody, and the latter is how we've tried to approach it," said McLeod. "These guys are all in the national selectors' eyes, and they are all good buggers or they wouldn't be here. It's World Cup year, there could be injuries, so have a go."